ABSTRACT
From the study of the practices of two companies working in South America in the 1930s, Christiani & Nielsen (Denmark) and GEOPÉ (Germany), this paper aims to understand the architectural practice whose premise is technique. The technique is reinforced concrete. Taking as starting point Smith-Miller’s article of 1937 introducing South American architecture, we will focus on two buildings, the Jockey Club of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and the COMEGA, in Buenos Aires (Argentina). While the first example was marked by intense conflict between the architects who designed the buildings and the engineers of the Danish construction company, the second saw a rich dialogue between architects and engineers from GEOPÉ, a subsidiary of the German construction company. Using these scenarios, we seek to understand the role of foreign construction companies, and the relationship between architects and engineers, in the modernization of Brazilian and Argentine architecture.
